Opinions on Mike Gillis

[Tortorella's Rant]

One of those stupid moves was hiring Torts. The guys crazy. He rode the sedins into the ground, Kesler hates him. Plays the wrong style for this team. I can go on and on. Hes a good interview but thats about the only postive.

I think Torts is a great coach but I'm starting to side on the idea that he isn't a good fit here with the players we have. Just like so many players, coaches too have their own style and can't change from one style to another. There's no switch they can flick on and off. What you see is what you get.

[Honky Cat]

One of those stupid moves was hiring Torts. The guys crazy. He rode the sedins into the ground, Kesler hates him. Plays the wrong style for this team. I can go on and on. Hes a good interview but thats about the only postive.

That...more than any player moves,could be Gillis' biggest mistake....

[Honky Cat]

You can argue that he, along with the scouting department has botched draft picks after draft picks, until the last draft where it finally looks like we have some talent to look forward too 6 years into his tenure here. You can argue he botched the Burrows signing. To throw that much money at one player who piggy backs so much off the twins is ridiculous. It's almost like throwing that money at Anson Carter 9 years ago. You can argue he botched signing the twins when he did. I see it as him having had all the negotiation power, he had them by the balls, and he gave them whatever they wanted basically.

Burrows was severely underpaid for several years....The Sedins are Art Ross/Hart trophy winners..How much should they be paid ?..They are getting market value for their services.,comparative to other players in the league.....Even though,all three hav gone down th toilet his year.

[messier's_elbow]

That...more than any player moves,could be Gillis' biggest mistake....

Im not even saying that because of the winter classic debacle either. Hes made a ton of mistakes in 3/4 of a season. Oh I forgot another one....The PP couldnt be worse if a monkey was drawing up plays.

[Darth Kane]

Gillis has two major weaknesses; trading/asset management and drafting. Both are key elements to success as a GM and as a team.

Let's take a look at some of the bigger trades he's made as a sample

1. Loungo/Anthony for Markstrom/Matthias - a franchise goalie for an AHL goalie and 3rd line centre

2. Schneider for 1st round pick (Horvat) - the jury is still out on this trade, Horvat could be a productive NHLer but as with any prospect there are risks that they don't make a successful jump to the NHL.

3. Derek Roy or Connauton/2nd round pick - on a team with a shallow prospect pool 2nd round picks are important

4. Sulzer/Hodgson for Kassian/Gragnani - this essentially became Hodgson for Kassian, a 2nd line centre for a 4th line grinder. Kassian may develop into a power forward for most people would take this trade back if they could.

5. Booth/Reinprecht/3rd pick for Sturm/Samuelsson - it was good to unload to aging forwards but Booth has been a gong show

6.Higgins for Oberg/3rd round pick - good trade

7. Ballard/Oreskovich for Bernier/Grabner/1st round pick - do I really need so say anything about this one?

8. Erhoff/Lukowich for Rahimi/White - good trade, took advantage of San Jose needing to dump salary

Out of these 8 deals 2 were good and none since the Higgins deal 3 years ago. Not a good formula for long term success.

Drafting

There is only one player on the roster who was drafted after 2004 and that's Schroeder who was drafted in 2009. Part of this has to do with Gillis trading away draft picks, but when he does draft there hasn't been much success. Jensen and Gaunce could be decent NHLer but they still will take some time. Horvat and Shinkaruk could be great NHLers as well but again, they are a feew years out (which is ok). Gillis needs more drafts like 2013 and less like 2009 - 2012.

With poor trading and poor drafting it shouldn't be a surprise that the Canucks have been on a steady decline the past few years. I'm not trying to troll or rag on the Canucks, but I think Gillis has done a poor job and Canucks fans deserve better.

[sting]

Gillis has two major weaknesses; trading/asset management and drafting. Both are key elements to success as a GM and as a team.

Let's take a look at some of the bigger trades he's made as a sample

1. Loungo/Anthony for Markstrom/Matthias - a franchise goalie for an AHL goalie and 3rd line centre

2. Schneider for 1st round pick (Horvat) - the jury is still out on this trade, Horvat could be a productive NHLer but as with any prospect there are risks that they don't make a successful jump to the NHL.

3. Derek Roy or Connauton/2nd round pick - on a team with a shallow prospect pool 2nd round picks are important

4. Sulzer/Hodgson for Kassian/Gragnani - this essentially became Hodgson for Kassian, a 2nd line centre for a 4th line grinder. Kassian may develop into a power forward for most people would take this trade back if they could.

5. Booth/Reinprecht/3rd pick for Sturm/Samuelsson - it was good to unload to aging forwards but Booth has been a gong show

6.Higgins for Oberg/3rd round pick - good trade

7. Ballard/Oreskovich for Bernier/Grabner/1st round pick - do I really need so say anything about this one?

8. Erhoff/Lukowich for Rahimi/White - good trade, took advantage of San Jose needing to dump salary

Out of these 8 deals 2 were good and none since the Higgins deal 3 years ago. Not a good formula for long term success.

Drafting

There is only one player on the roster who was drafted after 2004 and that's Schroeder who was drafted in 2009. Part of this has to do with Gillis trading away draft picks, but when he does draft there hasn't been much success. Jensen and Gaunce could be decent NHLer but they still will take some time. Horvat and Shinkaruk could be great NHLers as well but again, they are a feew years out (which is ok). Gillis needs more drafts like 2013 and less like 2009 - 2012.

With poor trading and poor drafting it shouldn't be a surprise that the Canucks have been on a steady decline the past few years. I'm not trying to troll or rag on the Canucks, but I think Gillis has done a poor job and Canucks fans deserve better.

Drafting has been horrible but a GM has to rely on his scouting staff......ultimately he's responsible though. I still like our last few drafts but what a black hole from 2005-2011.

Trading has been good. The problem is his ego gets in the way when it comes to realizing he messed up. Had Gillis and his coaching staffs been more harmonious he could have cut loose Ballard and kept Ehrhoff. Could have ridded Booth and kept Raymond. Thats right I wanted to keep Raymond.

You can't blame him for Sedins and Burrows falling off a cliff. Its easy to criticize the contracts but no one in the system is better right now.....sad reality.

I guess the big question is will he be given the chance to build his own team.....I think he will

[Red Light Racicot]

Wrong...This whole Aqualini interfering fiasco was started by the Pittsburgh media,it didn't happen....The organization as a whole turned down the deal (Sutter,1st,3rd....obviously) ...there was no debate on that......The rest of your post is one dimensional Gillis hate,there's lots of rebuttals elsewhere on this forum for that.

This whole deal where any form of criticism gets interpreted as something personal needs to stop.

I feel Ive been more then fair. I will readily admit Gillis did a great job building this team and deserves a lot of credit, a lot more then Burke and also a lot more then many seem willing to give.

As he deserved praise then, he deserves criticism now. Plenty of it.

[Raph]

You're an idiot. Do you realize that Pittsburgh also has 2 first line centers? And were horrible for stretch before this? Detroit is in the exact same boat except worse (age wise). We've made the playoffs for the last 5 years and haven't had a chance to draft low(Except Horvat via trade). Look at the Blackhawks. THEY WERE HORRIBLE. They had trouble filling seats. Now look at them? Low picks in a row and BAM, two cups. That's why Edmonton is mind boggling. You have no idea what you're talking about.

Oh so more excuses huh? By your logic, if they have a healthy team, they should be absolutely dominating right?

As for the Blackhawks, how do you explain them dismantling their team after their first cup win, then filling their roster with young players for a 2nd cup win? Even Pittsburgh is always shifting pieces every year. All MG does is move a 4th liner who plays 4-8 mins a game.

And btw, the Sedins are #2 and #3 picks, and we had trouble filling seats before that and WE WERE HORRIBLE!

[Mispelled]

The two biggest problems with the Canucks are not Gillis and Tortz. The two biggest problems with the Canuckas are the Sedins. It is hard to believe that this team could, potentailly, trade Kesler, but keep the Sedins... in order to go in a new direction!!! How is that a new direction??? Soft core is soft core. The Sedins remain the reason this team is not built for the playoffs. Naslund 2.0 ... NTC. This is not hindsight.

[Mclean1]

Have fun going back to been a player agent and thanks for ruining our team,which Burke and nonis worked so hard to create.Happy Trails to you.

[#76]

I ???? hate mike gillis. I despise this tool.

[SoylentBlue]

He needs to go.

[gunshygillis]

I think what captures Gillis in a nutshell is his inability to pull the trigger on a deal. Whether by his aversion to risk, or excessive valuation of his own team, he just can't make the decision to part with his players until forced. See past GMs and their signature trades. Trades where they gave up something to get something.

Pat Quinn - mike peca for Alex mogilny. You could say the naslund trade but I don't think trading stojanov was a risk.

Mike Keenan - Trevor Linden for Todd bertuzzi and Bryan McCabe.

Brian Burke - Bryan McCabe and 1st for the twins. (Bure was forced)

Dave Nonis - this one is tougher. Bertuzzi for Luongo was a steal although this was forced pretty much.

There are others which I probably missed.

MG made all his impact trades after he had painted himself into a corner and had his hand forced. It seemed like the only trades he wants to make are the ones where it's a complete steal. Sometimes you gotta give up something to get something.

[KSniper88]

fire gillis asap